Music Matters Jazz has announced their final round of new Blue Note Records vinyl reissue titles, and it’s a whopper. For many years, Music Matters has been crafting the definitive Blue Note reissue series, with sound quality that rivals or even exceeds the originals. Now, the last titles are being announced. It looks like the company will stay around as long as there is stock on hand, but there are no new Blue Note titles that will be reissued after these.

Here they are in catalog order. You can subscribe in the Music Matters Store: http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/Articles.asp?ID=253

Thad Jones – The Magnificent Thad Jones – MM BNLP-1527

Lee Morgan – Candy – MM BNLP-1590

Hank Mobley – Sextet – MM BNLP-1568

Lee Morgan – Lee-Way – MM BNST-84034

Jackie McLean – Jackie’s Bag – MM BNST-84051

Kenny Dorham – Whistle Stop – MM BNST-84063

Freddie Hubbard – Ready for Freddie – MM BNST-84085

Lee Morgan – Search for the New Land – MM BST-84169

Wayne Shorter – Night Dreamer – MM BNST-84173

Duke Pearson – Wahoo! – MM BNST-84191

Art Blakey – Indestructible – MM BNST-84193

Dexter Gordon – Gettin’ Around – MM BNST-84204

Horace Silver – The Cape Verdean Blues – MM BNST-4220

Like all current Music Matters Jazz releases, these audiophile vinyl reissues are mastered from the original analog tape by Kevin Gray and Ron Rambach and pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at RTI in Camarillo, CA. The highest quality gatefold covers from Stoughton Printing in City of Industry, CA feature original session photography, licensed from Mosaic Images on the inside.

From Music Matters:

All good things…

Dear Music Lovers,

It was a labor of love, a lifetime pursuit of a passion for music that has defined a culture for decades and stood as the most definitive expression of Americana imaginable—Jazz. And to bring it to you, we set out to create a reissue series that would be unparalleled in its quality, from the pristine sound from our state-of-the-art studio work as we worked our way through the Blue Note master tape vault, to the exclusive gatefold presentation featuring rare session photos that have seldom been seen. We spun them onto your turntables for years, to the delight of music lovers the world over. And yet, as with all good things…

This is to announce that we have taken our last walk through the vaults, selecting the final titles for this incredible series to close out the season with a real flourish. What a lineup! We’ve got 13 titles, handpicked from the best of the best, and one lost master tape that was finally found after thirty years. If they were a baseball team we would compare them to New York’s “Murderer’s Row” in 1927, Brooklyn’s “Boys of Summer” with the ’52 Dodgers, or the great “Gas house Gang” from the ’34 Cardinals. So here they come, our “Big Blue Machine” from the depths of the Blue Note Vault, one last time, one last game, and then gone forever.

It all starts in October, with The Magnificent Thad Jones leading off the lineup, and Lee Morgan right behind him on Search for a New Land. Then up they come, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Jackie McLean, and by November we’ll be Ready for Freddy Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Art Blakey—truly “Indestructible.” And then, just for an encore as we start the new year, we’ve kept three more in the bullpen waiting to close it all out, and with a special gift to you—free USA shipping on the final three to say ‘thanks’ for your tremendous support all these years. Duke Pearson will be our setup man before we go to Dexter Gordon, and when the final out is tallied, Kenny Dorham will be standing on the mound with a smile. Visit our site at musicmattersjazz.com to look over the whole lineup—11 artists, 13 great records, because Lee Morgan goes three for three in this final game… And then it’s over.

Dear friends, we gave it our all—heart, soul, sweat and tears. We did everything possible to honor this music and the vintage Blue Note label that carried it, and now it’s all yours. To those that have been with us from the very first release, I offer my profound thanks. To those that dropped in, like a man on the street outside the club, lured by that mesmerizing beat and the siren song of cymbal, saxophone and guitar, sit a while and listen up! This was real; this was important; this was music that truly mattered.

You looked, you listened, and we’re so very grateful that you were there.

With gracious thanks, Ron & Joe

PS:

A Note to Our Subscribers:

If you are already a subscriber there is no need to contact us or re-subscribe unless your address or credit card information has changed, or you would like to cancel your current subscription.

Our Free Shipping Offer:

Anyone who remains a subscriber for this entire final set of 13 titles will receive free shipping on the last 3 titles. Subscribers will receive every title upon its release, 2 titles every month, unless you cancel your subscription. Each new title is now $39.95.

New Subscriptions:

If you are not yet a subscriber and want to subscribe to this final series, please go to: www.musicmattersjazz.com/subscribe. Just click on the button labeled “Subscribe” and fill out the brief form. New subscribers will also qualify for the free shipping offer mentioned above.